Higher Royalties Proposed

March 2006 | Key Sectors Analysis

Unlike in other Latin American nations, mining companies that operate in Guatemala currently have to pay the state a royalty of 1% on the value of all minerals they extract. Elsewhere, the firms pay only taxation on their earnings, rather than royalties on their minerals. Under a new proposal made public by the Berger government in early March, the royalty rates would rise even further: to 3% on gold and silver, 2% on copper and nickel and 1% on non-metallic minerals. The government's position comes amid a continuing controversy over mining laws in the country, after last year's violent protests

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